TEF is following Verizon's roadmap Thanks Iain for an article very helpful for those of us who weren't there.

Verizon is doing 25% of the U.S., just as TEF is doing 25% of Germany. Planned right, the cost is so low Verizon can cut capital spending while building a millimeter wave network with three times the capacity of the 3.5 GHz mid-band others are using. Hans Vestberg at Verizon estimates US$250-400 per home passed, half the cost of fibre.

Reaching 25% can be done merely by upgrading existing cell sites, relatively cheap. It can be done with small cells in place or needed anyway for 4G. Vestberg pointed out that when it is time to go beyond the 25% - 3 or 4 years - the equipment prices should be much lower. He says Verizon will do "The entire country" by 2028.

Going quickly to mmWave is probably the right strategy for non-incumbents where unbundling is not practical. Telefonica and Verizon are the only ones who see it that way today; everyone else is sticking with mid-band for now, even the Chinese and Koreans.